How to Drive Guests to Review Your Hotel Online

In a previous article I mentioned the importance of encouraging your guests to review your hotel online on Travel Search Engines, such as Trip Advisor or Kayak.

Since writing the article, I have received four or five emails plus a comment on this site asking for more information on exactly HOW to encourage guests to write reviews.

The general trend appears to be that if guests are extremely unhappy then they are more likely to post a negative review on a travel search engine. Guests who have been unhappy with their stay and have not received a suitable outcome after a complaint are the most like to use a bad review to express their emotions, often in a non-factual way. As unfortunate as these occurrences are, and as harmful as they can potentially be for your business, they don’t have to be so.

The Positives of a Negative Review

Not only is a bad review an opportunity to look inwards at the quality of your service and product, and therefore grow and improve, it is also an excellent chance to respond in a professional manner. It is your chance to show empathy and understanding, explain your point of view, and publicly right any wrong doings. Who could ask for better free PR?

Excellent Example

I remember a great example on Trip Advisor in January 2008. A guest wrote a terrible review of the Sofitel Galaxy Hotel in Nanjing, describing the poor service, terrible food, and low quality of the room fixtures. Within four days the GM responded to the criticisms in a delightfully professional manner, apologizing where necessary, whilst politely pointing out that he had video evidence completely contradicting the guest’s unsubstantiated claims. Excellent! His reply filled me with joy and reminded me of how much I love this industry!

However, I digress…

Special Offers and Gifts

My hotel and guest house clients have been successful in getting customers to write reviews by giving a special offer to all those who do. A simple 15% discount or a free bottle of wine on their next stay if they write a review after this stay is enough to encourage your guests.

Reminder Cards

I have suggested to a number of hoteliers that they create inexpensive business cards to hand to their guests at check-out that ask them to review their property at whatever travel search engine they favour. This can, of course, incorporate the idea above by including a coupon on the back of the card. Due to their size guests can easily place them in their wallet and be reminded to write the review at a later date.

Asking your guests for help is, in my experience, usually well received and they are more than willing.

Create a Forum

You should also consider developing a forum for guest to discuss the hotel and surrounding area online; recommending nearby restaurants or sights worth visiting, for example. Again, from experience, I have noticed that people are much more likely to forward websites to friends when they are featured on it.

If you have any further suggestions you’d like to share with me or fellow hoteliers and guest house owners, please add your comments below or email me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk.

Many thanks for reading,

Emma

I am still on a search for the best hotel booking system for small to medium sized hotels. If you know of hotel booking software that can beat HotelSystems.co.uk for ease of use and functionality then please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk